"No Mr Adobe, I expect you to die"
An eloquent stand-down in the ongoing Flash-on-the-iPhone war was posted by Mike Chambers, Adobe’s Principal Product Manager for the Flash, today. Read it here
Finally, Adobe have conceded the battle and accepted Flash will not be playing in Apple’s walled garden anytime soon. So much so that they are actively discontinuing development in what was once the key selling-point for Flash CS5.
“We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature.”
In my opinion, Apple’s actions in this whole battle have been embarassingly cynical, protectionist and self-serving.
- Jobs: Flash just doesn’t run well enough on the iPhone – Adobe have pretty comprehensively proven isn’t true. Check out some of the Flash-based iPhone games already built.
- Apple claims that Flash apps will be unstable and crash lots – This is arguably the most transparent attempt to rationalise their actions. I’ve lost count of the amount of times Objective C based apps have crashed on me. People right crappy code, the App store approval process doesn’t prevent that. Language is irrelevant.
- It’s in the customers’ interest – Users don’t care what technology has been used. They want rich, engaging content. The kind that the Flash community have pioneered online for 11 years now and continue to do so. Locking out a huge creative online community is short-sighted in the extreme.
- iAds – Apple continue their “it’s my ball, it’s my game” mentality with their latest announcement about ads served via their platform. Their terms now state that 3rd party ads can be served – but only if there’s no analytics taking place. This means anything other than their own iAds platform can only blindly broadcast ads. Ads with no analytics or targeting is like a time-machine back to Don Draper’s world of advertising.
- Objective C is the best language – Game Haxe’s post “Bravo, Apple” drips with sarcasm and eviscerates this argument in a way I couldn’t hope to match.
From what I can see, Apple are intent on ruling their platform with an iron fist. I don’t begrudge them their success, (let’s be clear – I love my iPhone), I just wish they didn’t feel they had to crush any other innovators in the field.
Adobe may have conceded this battle for the mobile space but the resistance is strong. And just to be clear, this isn’t just me backing Flash, I love Flash true, but these developments kill Haxe, Unity, Titanium, Java and so many other advances that really could enrich the iPhone environment. Apple would do well to remember it was their creativity that rocketed the iPhone into it’s dominant position – stifling innovation is only helping Android, Windows 7 mobile, and co. to draw the disaffected developers to their platform. And make no mistake, the users will follow when the best experience is elsewhere.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
- GK Chesterton